Promises Kept

There has been a lot of sadness lately, in my life, and the lives of others ... marriages and friendships and ministries not proving to be what they promised to be. Failures every-ole-where, including in my own life.

This world is chaos. Has anyone noticed? In the grander scheme of politics and world events, and in the lesser scheme of "I can't consistently make my bed before leaving the house in the morning."

I've been focusing a lot lately on how messed up it all is, on how messed up I am.

This morning, I was thinking of two words that make the greatest-possible difference ...

"But God"

People are unfaithful, and unreliable (including me), but God ...

Finances are uncertain, but God ...

My life might be a disaster, but God ...

He keeps His promises. Always.

Always.

We've had some good preaching in Genesis and James, and I was thinking of how that related.

Last night, we talked about how Joseph, when he was in prison, continued to believe in what God had showed him through a dream years ago when he was just a boy. He didn't lose faith that God would bring it to pass, such that he told his fellow prisoners that "with God is is the interpretation of dreams." His circumstances didn't cause him to doubt what God had showed him back when the sun shone, and he was the apple of his father's eye. What was true then was also true in prison.

And when he told the story of what brought him to prison, he chose to leave out what would, to me, be the most significant fact. He didn't say "my brothers are at the root of what brought me here." Wouldn't the failure of those I loved best be at the foundation of my thoughts as I mouldered away in the dark? He chose to trust God, and not to be bitter.

All of the James messages have been such a blessing, and today I was re-thinking some of the ones at the beginning of the book. In chapter 1, it says to "count it all joy" when we "fall into various trials."

First of all, how many of my problems are entirely of my own making? Do those count as "trials"? Or simply "I'm an idiot" situations? It says "fall into" ... to me that phrase seems to include things that I've brought on myself, yes? We're said to "fall into" sin, and that certainly is of my own choosing.

So, when I recognize the mess I've gotten myself into, can I "count it all joy" because "the testing of your faith worketh patience"?

I can count it joy, in that I can give it to God. He will accept whatever mess I've created, and meet with me in it, and "give wisdom liberally and reproaches not."

What a wonder that is. How many others would be willing to take whatever convoluted situation we hand them, and say, "let's work through this" as opposed to, "how, exactly, could you have been such a moron?"

He keeps His promises.

"All things work together for the good of them that love God, who are called according to His purposes."

He keeps His promises.

Let the one who asks for wisdom, ask in faith, not doubting.

He keeps His promises.

I saw a rainbow this morning, the sign that, thousands of years ago, God promised never to destroy the world with a flood again.

No matter how we fail Him ... and we do ... all of us. He keeps His promise. And the signs of His past faithfulness are EVERYWHERE, quietly reminding us of His goodness, His love, His mercy.

Thankful, humbled, today, and ... hopeful.

He keeps His promises. Always.